Since the advent of various active and passive restraints recently been developed in connection with automobile safety devices, attention has been focused on several impact cushioning devices, such as the automobile-mounted air bag.
Several important problems and difficulties have been encountered in connection with automobile air bags, especially in view of the fact that a different type of bag is required to accommodate passengers of a vehicle, as opposed to the air bag which accommodates the person or driver behind the steering wheel of a vehicle. However, in both situations, the air bags developed heretofore failed to solve the problems of providing a very compact shape and profile for the bag in its collapsed position, and providing air bags which would achieve proper air flow characteristics which are necessary to safely release such an automobile-mounted air bag.
The present invention, which is described in detail hereinbelow, avoids the pitfalls and drawbacks of the previously-developed inflatable devices, and in addition provides a unique folded air bag which achieves the required air flow characteristics during safe release or inflation thereof.